Xero takes part in Shadow Tech Day for teachers – Auckland

Shadow Tech Day for teachers is the brainchild of NZTechWomen, and Xero was lucky enough to play a part in it. It is pitched as a Personal Development day for Digital Technology teachers to experience what it’s like to work in tech – and how this relates back to the curriculum they are teaching. This follows on from the successful and award-winning Shadow Tech Day, which is aimed at encouraging more female high school students into the tech sector.

The day

Last Wednesday, we had Jessy George from Green Bay High School and Yong Ai Sim from Tangaroa College visit our Xero offices. Both teachers spent part of their morning immersed within our development teams. They got to see how the teams work together, the challenges they face as well as experience team stand ups and scrum boards.

In the afternoon they got to meet a number of Xero subject matter experts from various departments including our Data Science Team, Platform and Site Reliability Team, as well as Agile coaches, Graduate Team Leads, designers, and some of our recent grads. Jessy and Yong Ai we both highly engaged and keen to understand how the exercises they set their students in the classroom related to what happens in the real world.

The benefits

Opportunities like this not only benefit the teachers and the students, but from an industry standpoint, it allows us to connect, influence and support the future talent needed for this growing industry.

This is also increasingly timely as by 2020 all schools in Aotearoa will need to implement the new digital technology curriculum. So, it’s crucial to support teachers and schools with this transition so that we can ensure the success of our young people and their futures.

This is something which is called out in the Techleaders Executive Discussion Paper which highlights insights on the tech industry, education and the workplace of tomorrow, which came out late last year. The paper discusses the important role technology leaders could play in helping secure the future of work for Kiwis. It’s important that we are:

• working to build a stronger connection with education to help prepare students, engage with teachers and support the introduction of the new digital technology curriculum.  
• working with the government to help reshape the national conversation away from, ‘the robots are taking my job’ to a more positive view that will encourage upskilling.

The future

By connecting with teachers and taking part in initiatives like Shadow Tech Day for teachers, we are able to better equip the next generation for the future of working in tech.

Both Jessy and Yong Ai expressed their deep gratitude for having the opportunity to spend time with the Xero team. Yong Ai told us:

I just want to express my thanks again for the wonderful Personal Development that you have helped to make possible for me and Jessy yesterday.

I felt so privileged (not to mentioned pampered, too, with goodies bag and food provided) to be able to learn first hand from the many highly talented professionals at Xero. It was such a rich and rewarding experience. I now will try my best to convert that to a similar experience for my students in the classroom.

We are looking forward to welcoming both Yong Ai and Jessy along with their students to the Xero office early next year.

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Source: Xero Blog